Grant: Dissemination Events - PA: First Nations, Inuit and Métis Health

Aboriginal people experience poorer health and socio-economic conditions than the general population in Canada. Epidemiological data also suggest that Aboriginal people continue to be over-represented in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Canada. Proportionally, Aboriginal people who self identified in the 2006 census represented 3.8% of the general Canadian population, and yet they accounted for an estimated 8% of all prevalent HIV infections and 12.5% of all new HIV infections in 2008 (PHAC, 2009). Further, Aboriginal people are one of the eight target populations identified in the Federal Initiative to Address HIV/AIDS in Canada. The Canadian Association for HIV Research (CAHR) is the leading organization of HIV/AIDS researchers in Canada. CAHR includes all researchers and all disciplines of the scientific approaches to HIV and AIDS, for the purpose of its better prevention and treatment and ultimately for its eradication and cure. As part of CAHRs mission is to promote education and the development of new researchers, CAHR runs several new researcher workshops (NRW) each year. These skills-based workshops are designed to focus on all four CAHR research tracks (Basic Sciences, Clinical Sciences, Epidemiology and Public Health, Social Sciences) as well as Community-Based Research. These workshops include such sessions as: CIHR 101; Getting Funding for your Research; Grantscrafting; Mentorship; and Career Development. Sessions are conducted by leading Canadian HIV researchers and representatives from research funding organizations. With this background, CAHR is supporting efforts to address the needs of the Aboriginal community, and to play a role in building a cadre of First Nations, Inuit and Métis HIV/AIDS researchers in Canada. Of central importance to this effort, CAHR will utilize new funding to promote these workshops and to offer travel incentives to aspiring First Nations, Inuit and Métis HIV/AIDS researchers in Canada to attend a CAHR NRW in Fall/Winter 2013-14.